Apparatus for handling ashes or other solid materials



Oct. 1, 1929. 4 F. a. ALLEN APPARATUS FOR HANiJLING ASHES OR OTHER SOLID MATERIALS Filed Dec. 2a, 1926 7 INVEN TOR A TTORNZ'I'YIS7 Patented Oct. 1, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FRANK B. ALLEN, OF LOWER MARION TOWNSHIP, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNBYII;

VANIA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE ALLEN-SHERMAN-HOFF COMI- PANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR HANDLING ASHES OR OTHER SOLID MATERIALS Application filed December 23, 1926. Serial No. 156,545.

This invention relates to an improveddevice for removing furnace residues from a furnace bottom.

It has been known to construct a furnace with its ash hopper opening into a sluice through which the furnace residues have been flushed to a place of disposal. In such constructions it has been known to provide the hopper with not more than two discharge openings. Walls or feed plates inclined downwardly toward each other have been positioned beneath the discharge openings in spaced relation thereto to receive and support the residues which bank thereon when the hopper gates are opened. The residues have customarily been flushed from the walls into a sluice which as previously constructed has extended longitudinally of the feed plate and transversely of the furnace hopper.

In utilizing the construction above outlined for the large size installation of modern plants it has been necessary to use a furnace hopper of considerable height in order that suflicient inclination will be obtained in its walls of firebrick to cause the molten slag and ash to be discharged therefrom through the discharge openings by gravity. Furnaces are commonly disposed in a boiler house and the height of the boiler house must vary with the height of the furnace hopper. A construction of furnace hopper and furnace residue disposal system which will permit of a reduction in height of the entire furnace and boiler house necessarily means a tremendous saving in expense and such a construction has been sought for .many years. The applicant has devised a construction-whereby a furnace of the largest capacity used today can be positioned in closely spaced relation to the bottom of the furnace residue disposal system and result in increased efiiciency of the disposal system.

In its broader aspects the invention co nprises a furnace hopper having a plurality of discharge openings arranged in rows lengthwise of the hopper and in rows transversely of the hopper, downwardly inclined walls disposed beneaththe openings adapted to receive residues discharged therethrough, and a sluice beneath the discharge end of the walls and extending len thwise of the hopper to receive residues 'scharged from the walls.

The invention will be more readily understood frprn a description of one practical embodiment thereof illustrated in the accom panying drawings in which,

Fig. 1 1s a transverse sectional view of an apparatus for handling ashes applied to a hopper having six discharge openings in the bottom thereof, taken on the line I-I of Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 1, taken on line 11-11 thereof.

' The bottom of a hopper which receives ashes and other solids left upon combustion,

from the combustion chamber ofa boiler furnace, is illustrated as having walls 1 formed of refractory material inside and metal outside. These walls are of any desired construction. The bottom of the hopper ,is provided with six openings 2 through which the solid material may be discharged. These openings are arranged in two rows and, the openings of one row may be very close to each other. Each opening is surrounded with a frame 3 and closed by a door 4. These doors may be slid along on rollers 5, supported on the beams 6, which also support parts of the hopper walls 1. The doors may be actuated by any suitable means and are shown as moved by piston rods 7 operated by pistons moving in cylinders 8 and controlled and operated by hydraulic or suitable fluid means.

At the bottom of the furnace hopper a central deflecting pier or cricket 9 and two transverse deflecting crickets 10 of refractory material are positioned. These direct ashes toward the openings and protect the supporting beams, the door frames, etc., from the heat within the furnace hopper.

Below the discharge openings is a chamber having ends 11 and sides 12, the bottom of which consists of two feed plates 13. The feed plates may be fixed in a horizontal position, pivoted so that their inclination may be changed, or arranged in many other manners but are only illustrated as fixed and sloping downwardly toward the center of the chamber. The feed plates terminate beneath the central pier or cricket 9 and are joined at their inner ends to downwardly extending walls 14 and downwardly diverging transverse walls 15, forming two centrally disposed sluice hoppers below wall 9. The bottoms of these hoppers are provided with gratings 16 throughwhich the smaller pieces of material may drop and upon which large solid pieces, such as clinkers, will be retained. Access doors 17 are provided in the end walls 11, so that the interior of the chamber may be readily reached and clinkers too large to pass through the grids may be removed therefrom or broken thereon, as by pounding them with a sledge. The cricket formed" by walls 15 permits the use of relatively short grids 16 so that all parts of these are very accessible through the doors 17. Below the grids and extending transversely of the hopper is a sluicewafy 18 into which all material passing through the grid drops and along which it is carried to a point of disposal by a stream of water.

The cylinder 8 is protected by being outside the chamber and is positioned in a tunnel or compartment extending therethrough and having walls 19, which tunnel is open at its ends so that the cylinders are always accessible from the outside. Vertical plates 20 are positioned beneath the transverse walls 10 and along the upper side of the feed plates and serve to stiffen the plates and to direct material moving down the same.

Extending through the end and side walls 11 and 12 are nozzles 21 by which water is sprayed into the interior of the ash receiving 0 amber to cool and quench the ashes therein. At the juncture of the side walls and feed plates nozzles 22 direct a sheet of water downwardly along the upper surface of the plates and this stream assistsin moving the solid material down the plates to the grids. The sluiceway 18 is preferably located below the floor of the building and so greatly reduces the height of the ash handling apparatus. This is further reduced as the ashes are directed almost horizontally along the feed plates instead of moving down along inclined passages. The distance from the bottom of the furnace hopper, that is, from the openings 2, to the floor of the building 23 is relatively small, and the cost of the boiler house proportionately decreased.

Covered openings 24 are provided in the side walls 12 which are conveniently positioned for the operator to reach into the receiving chamber and furnace hopper with a rod or the like and to thus dislodge any material which has lodged there. As all of the walls of the chamber'except the feed plates are vertical, material does not lodge upon the walls of this chamber. The spray from the nozzles 22, flowing along the feed plates, prevents the accumulation of any solid material thereon, carrying it all directly to the sluiceway.

By moving the ashes with water from nozzles 22, the feed plates may be disposed horizontally or nearly so, whereas they would otherwise have to be disposed at an inclination of at least the angle or repose of the solid material, and would thus greatly increase the height of the chamber.

By moving the ashes laterally along the feed'plates, two or more rows of discharge openings may be used and the number of openings in each row is practically unlimited. This allows the ash hopper to be designed with a large bottom and consequently its sides may be nearly vertical, thus preventing accumulations of solid material upon them. The space which must be left below the bottom of the ash hopper is much less than has heretofore been necessary, as it need only be enough forthe feed plate chamber and sluice hopper, it being even possible to install parts of these below the floor level. As the height of the entire boiler house is frequently determined by the boilers themselves, any reduction in space below them may mean a great saving in the cost of the building.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a simply and economically constructed ash handling apparatus which is very accessible and greatly reduces the space necessary beneath the furnace hoppers.

While I have described one embodiment of my invention with some particularity, many other embodiments will readily occur to those skilled in the art to which it appertains, and I do not therefore limit myself to the precise details shown and described, but claim as my invention all such embodiments, variations, and modifications thereof as come" within the scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for handling furnace residues comprising a hopper having a plurality of discharge openings disposed in rows lengthwise of the hopper and in rows transversely of the hopper, downwardly inclined walls beneath the openings adapted to receive residues discharged through the openings, and a sluice beneath the discharge ends of the walls and extending lengthwise of the hopper to receive residues discharged from the walls.

2. Apparatus for handling furnace residues comprising a hopper having a plurality of openings disposed in rows lengthwise of the hopper and in pairs transversely of the hopper, a wall beneath each opening of each pan, the walls of each pair converging downwardly and adapted to receive residues discharged through the openings, and a sluice beneath the discharge ends of the walls and extending lengthwise of the hopper adapted to receive residues discharged from the walls.

.3 Apparatus for handling furnace residues comprising a hopper having a lurality of openings disposed in rows lengt wise of the hopper and in pairs transversely of the hopper, a wall positioned beneath each row of openings adapted to receive-residues discharged through the openings, the walls convergmg downwardly, and a sluice beneath ends of the walls and extending lengthwise of the hopper to receive material discharged from the walls.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature this 17th dgyRof Decelgamber, 

